


Canvas

by ScreamQueenBee (screamqueenbee)



Series: Just Little BuckyNat Things [2]
Category: Captain America - All Media Types, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: #BuckyNat Week, Art Student!Natasha, Art Student!Steve, College AU, F/M, History Student!Bucky
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-03-19
Updated: 2015-04-25
Packaged: 2018-03-18 16:08:45
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,823
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3575544
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/screamqueenbee/pseuds/ScreamQueenBee
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Written for 2015 BuckyNat Week, prompt: Glitter Glue</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

She was a literal mystery to him. Well, to most of the art department, actually. She only showed up when all of the other graduate art students were leaving the studios for thenight. Bucky was only really there to get out of studying for his 600-level history final that he was absolutely dreading under the pretense of keeping Steve company while he finished his semester art piece.

Steve always liked the have the studio door open while he worked, half to vent out the smell of paint thinner and half to invite conversation from any of his undergrad students that might be passing by.

He and Steve had been joking about his little crush on the strange red-headed student, who Bucky found out was called Natasha and was the only daughter of an ex-pat Russian military hero, when she actually popped her head into Steve’s workroom.

“Rogers, can I borrow your friend for, like, an hour? My model had an allergic reaction to some Krylon during that theatre competition and can’t put anything on his skin for the next six months.” Bucky was completely entranced by her, the way her accented voice wrapped around her words like a hand holding another and the fact that her bag had a golden-eyed cat peeking out of it. She looked a little frantic and fevered, he’d seen that look in Steve’s eyes when a deadline was bearing down on him and had hit a roadblock. “The next coffee run is on me.” She hastily added “And dinner?” when neither of them answered immediately.

Bucky stood up so fast that his chair knocked over, which made Steve laugh and drip paint all over his pants.

Natasha let out a relieved sigh and thanked them both before slipping back out of the room. Steve was still snorting in an attempt to hide his laughter at Bucky’s clumsiness.

“Go get’em, tiger.” The smaller man ducked a half-hearted swat as Bucky righted the chair he’d been sitting in before following the long, swishing fringe on Natasha’s floral jacket.

They went into a work room a few doors down from the one Steve was working in and Natasha shut the door behind her. This room was larger than what he was used to, with a different, brighter lighting set up and a long table with an expensive looking camera and boxes of art supplies on it.

“So…” He prompted while Natasha set her bag down and took off her fringed jacket. The cat, a solid looking black beast of a cat that was more wild animal than house pet. “I’m not sure you’ll allowed to have animals in here.”

“Why? Are you allergic?” She turned and Bucky was fascinated by the way her long, scarlet curls swung and bounced. When Natasha caught him staring, he made an attempt to cover it up by looking around the workroom like everything was incredibly interesting. The Beast wound itself around her legs like smoke, then relenting when she put down two small metal bowls with food and water for it. “His name is Liho. He’s got the proper papers filed with the university if you want to check.”

Natasha straightened up and moved to where two chest-high tripod were set up.

“No, I’m not allergic to anything really. That’d be Steve.” He dropped onto one of the stools closer to the door, in case he made an even bigger ass of himself than he just had and needed to bolt. When that joke fell flat, Bucky cleared his throat and changed the subject. “So, you’re a photographer?”

“That’s what my Bachelor’s is in, but I’m mainly mixed media.” She picked the camera up off the table and snapped a couple of test shots of him. She checked them, must have decided that she liked them “Are you okay with partial nudity? Rogers told me you model for him sometimes.”

That made him blush from the tips of his ears all the way down his neck and underneath the collar of his t-shirt. His hand came up to rub unconsciously at his shoulder, wondering if Steve had told her about his prosthetic as well. “I just help him with awkward poses when he can’t do it himself, that’s not really modeling.”

She pulled a pair of black sweat pants out of her bag, along with a sketchbook and brought them over to his stool. “So, your pants don't get messy.” Natasha explained when he gave her a confused look.

She turned away to adjust the second camera, which must have been filming, to give him a second of privacy as he changed into the pants. He set the folded jeans on the stool and walked to her.

When he touched her hand to let her know it was okay to look, she’d put up her hair and spread open her massive sketch book of the table. “So, what do you need me to model?”

“My final project is a triptych,” She glanced up at Bucky through her pale eyelashes to see if he understood. He’d spent enough time in art history classes with Steve to know the concept. Three panels, usually of religious figures, sometimes telling a story. “Of a ghost story my father used to tell me when I was little.”

There were a lot of rough sketches on the paper, but three full-color drawings dominated it. The same man, in three different costumes, with three different expressions. The first was bright and cheerful, done in shades of navy blue. Bucky assumed that the first box contained the items for that third.

The next one was much darker than the first one. All black with something muzzle like covering the lower half of the man’s face and smudges of black obscuring his eyes. The most striking part of the sketch was the left arm, outlined in silver and a large, red star dominating the upper portion of the bicep. The look in the man’s eyes, even on paper, shook Bucky up.

“Hey. Do you want me to turn up the heat?”

He started out of whatever trance the middle man had over him, taking a steadying breath as Liho wounds continuously around his ankles. Natasha’s face was all lines of concern, and her hand was an inch from his on the table.

“No. “ Bucky said firmly, deciding whatever it was that had shaken him was nothing. “No, I’m okay. I’m just really interested in your project. You said it was a story your dad told you?”

“Well,” She tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and huffed out a sigh. “Yeah. Heavily adapted to fit themes of self and loss and patriotism, but yeah.”

“How do I help?”

Natasha grinned and his heart started to race. “Tell me you’re okay with body paint and glitter?”

He laughed, genuine and echoing in the large space. “I’ve done weirder for Steve. I’m okay with pretty much everything.”

The first costume, the one with the navy blue quilted coat, wasn’t so bad. Natasha, asked to be called Nat, had the coat already made out of scraps of dark denim and flannel, which meant she only had to style his hair like a hipster and take lots of pictures. They chatted the whole time and Bucky found out that she was intelligent, spoke too many languages to name, and was a nationally ranked marksman.

He… He really liked her. Being around her was like being around Steve or like being around Sam, who was in his support group. Easy. He didn’t have to try to be something he wasn’t, or force himself to make awkward small talk.

But then again, he still had his clothes on.

After Nat had taken all the pictures she felt necessary, she helped him out of the coat, which was apparently very delicate, and put it back in its protective box. They stood there for an awkward moment, unsure of what to do next. Except completely certain of what to do because the next thing was he had to take his shirt of and she would cover him almost completely in glitter.

It was a dance like he’d never done before. Like nothing ever was as important as this.

“So, before we do this…” He fumbled, suddenly finding

“Yeah?” Her voice was muffled by the comb held between her teeth, working on pulling his hair back away from his face so it didn’t get in the way. Her fingers running through his hair, gathering up the sections and working out the loose-hold hairspray, felt really relaxing and his next words sort of tumbled out before he put any really thought to them.

“I lost my arm in an accident.” Bucky wiped a sweaty palm on the sides of his thigh. “A car crash. So, it’s, uh… Pretty gnarly, I guess. I can take this off.” He raised the prosthetic up a little. “If you need me too. I mean, if you don’t want it to distract from the pictures.”

Nat walked around until she was standing in front of him. “If you don’t want to continue with this part, it’s fine. You don’t have to do anything you’re uncomfortable with. Especially if it’s going to damage it in any way.”

Honestly, Bucky didn’t want it damaged either. True, it had been technically free, being experimental and all, but it was also the only one currently in existence and he didn’t want to have to go without it while another one was made.

“It’s probably better that I take it off.”

Nat nodded and started setting up for the application while Bucky pulled off his shirt and disengaged the mechanism that held the arm in place. He was thankful that the door was closed and the rest of the people in the building had gone home for the night.

Something about Nat made him feel at ease, even though he was as exposed as he could possibly be in front of a practical stranger.

“Ready?”

Bucky gave his best, most confident smile and nodded, crossing his arm over his chest because it actually was cold in the workroom.

“Okay, face or chest first?”

“Probably the rest of me first, right?” He shrugged. “ That way I can still try to dazzle you with my personality.”

“You can consider me already dazzled. I just don’t want you consuming more glitter than necessary.” Nat smirked, mixing up whatever adhesive was going to make him look like a kindergarten arts and crafts project in a mason jar.

“So, what is that? Because it looks like snot.”

“It’s eyelash glue. Totally skin safe and water-soluble and the glitter is ultra-fine cosmetic grade, so it won’t irritate your skin.”

Bucky took a second to text Steve, reminding him to drink something and eat the granola bars that where in his backpack before going to sleep, because he was going to be a couple of hours longer.

“Rogers okay?” She asked, swiping the large house painting brush into the jar. Bucky winced at the chill of it. “Sorry, if I’d heated up, you’d probably end up with second degree burns.”

“Yeah, just suffering for his craft by forgetting to take care of himself.”

The glitter wasn’t as bad as Bucky thought it would be. The only experience he had was with Rebecca’s birthday cards, which were always covered in coarse craft glitter, The stuff Nat used was almost silky and looked like a second skin over his own, more of a liquid sheen than anything else.

Natasha left his injured arm and the scared portions of his shoulder for last, asking him again if it was alright for her to touch those areas of him. He only nodded, tensing immediately as the gluey brush glided over thick, scarred skin, then the black shine of his “costume” was applied.

He was amazed at the concentration she had, where he could barely sit down and read through his homework, Nat could apply individual flecks of glitter with the smallest paintbrush he’d ever seen in his life, creating the most perfect star against the sea of high-reflective silver and shining black.

It was cute, she did the same thing as steve did when he was really concentrating, tongue held between their teeth, barely breathing. Bucky envied their talent and their devotion.

“Well, that’s part of you done.” She stood up from where she was adding details to his “utility belt,” and stretched, rolling her neck and shoulders.. It was almost three in the morning, and Bucky thanked his lucky stars that it was Saturday and he could go back to his and Steve’s apartment and sleep until the afternoon. Natasha stepped over to her camera and took as many pictures as she could in five minutes.

“I’m sorry this is taking so long.” She yawned, picking up an even more delicate brush and outlining the dark muzzle along his jaw and around his mouth. Their faces were inches apart. Bucky licked his lips, but stayed as still as he could, even though his body was screaming to move around after hours of stillness.

“I don’t mind. Anything to help a friend.”

“A friend, huh? Could you stoop down a little? You can see that I’m not that tall.” Bucky did as he was asked and his lips crashed into hers in an instance of electricity that neither pulled away from.

The kiss was as steady and sure as her hands; he hummed into it and brought his hand up to cup her cheek. He could feel particles of glitter transferring from his fingers to Natasha’s skin, leaving dark streaks wherever he’d touched.

Hours later, the kiss broke. Both of them were panting and Bucky’s hand needed re-doing.

“Let’s get this finished, yes? Then we can move on to better things.” Natasha said slyly. Bucky nodded, wanting very much to do just that.

He stayed very still as they both sat into the floor, his hand palm up on her knee as she painted over the bare skin with red this time. A change in artistic vision, she said, but Bucky could guess the implication of having this ghost red-handed.

“Will you tell me the story sometime?” He asked quietly. Nat hmmed and dusted her hands off on her leggings. Bucky thought that by the end of this, she’d be covered in as much glitter as he was. “The story about this man your dad told you?”

“It wasn’t so much a story as one of those things you tell children to behave.” She straightened her shoulders, her accent instantly becoming more pronounced as she spoke. “Be good, the Winter Soldier is watching. Don’t sneak away, or the Winter Soldier will get you.”

Bucky nodded. “Like a Boogeyman.” His mother would tell them similar stories, golem and dybukk and other things that haunted the streets to keep them from wandering around Brooklyn, generally looking in ditches for Steve.

She got up to retrieve the camera, snapping off several in-progress and detail shots of his hand and shoulder. Bucky was sure he looked like a goof, with his mussed hair and half-finished face. Not at all the serious and vacant Winter Soldier that Nat had sketched out. His face was all over the pages of her sketchbook, always covered with the mask and smeared eye-black or goggles. Once in the beginnings of what could have been a Russian military uniform, but still with the mask obscuring his expression.

“Where did the design come from? Did you come up with it or was it part of the story.”

Nat grinned to herself and shook her head. “It’s kind of stupid, but it came to me in a dream? Well. A nightmare. He’d gotten into the house and was standing over me while I was asleep. I’m going to finish your mouth, okay? Then we can do the eyes and get you home to Rogers.” 

Bucky nodded his understanding and held still, barely breathing as Nat got close to his cheek and filled in the outline of the mask with delicate precision.

“When I woke up from it, my bedroom window was open and the curtains were outside the room like someone had just left. I just had to draw him because for some reason, I was terrified I would forget him. Even though he scared me, I needed to remember.” She changed to a soft make-up brush to work around his mouth, choosing to pat on the shimmery flecks with her finger rather than a brush. “I told my dad about it, he just said it was probably me sleep-walking again. The Winter Soldier is just a myth. Pretroushka, a puppet. Nothing to be frightened of anymore and certainly nothing that would come in my window and watch me sleep.”

He nodded again, resisting the urge to kiss her fingers.

“I don’t know. I guess I fell in love with the idea of him after that. A boogeyman, guardian angel, whatever.” Nat switched out brushes and moved up to his eyes, smudging black over his eyelids and around. “I couldn’t stop drawing him all semester. It’s starting to annoy my teachers. But, I guess artistic obsession is better than no inspiration at all.”

She helped Bucky up and he walked around for a second to get feeling back in his feet and legs before having to stand still while she photographed him. Bucky tried to get the same expression of blankness in his eyes, hoping that that and not how tired he was would come through in the pictures.

Nat took so many pictures that she had to switch out memory cards in the middle of it, then Liho climbed up the leg of Bucky’s sweats and she took several shots of him holding the cat just for fun.

By the time she pronounced them finished, it was almost five in the morning and Bucky shuffled off to shower and put his prosthetic back on while she packed up. He was nodding off under the chilly spray, sheets of glitter and eyelash glue sloughing off like he was shedding.

Natasha was standing by the only car left in the parking lot when he walked out of the studio building, clean but not entirely glitter-free. Steve had already taken the bus back to the apartment that they shared with a med student called Sam.

“So, your place?” She asked with a grin, rocking up on her tiptoes to place a kiss on his mouth. “I know I promised dinner, but I think we should move it to brunch. There’s a great burrito place close to campus that has bottomless mojitos and waffles.”

Bucky hummed into the kiss, settling both hands on her hips. “Sleep, then food. I’m beat.”

She laughed and tossed her mass of red curls over her shoulder and slid into the drivers seat.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucky and Nat go home

Somewhere along the way, they remembered that Liho didn’t have a cat box at Bucky’s place, so they went to Nat’s instead.

“I have to warn you. I have a roommate and our place is a little bit of a mess.” She said off-handedly as they were walking up the crumbling stairs to the top floor apartment. Nat had an apartment with roof access “Alexei needs it for his work, and it’s a great place to get away from the turpentine smell.” Alexei was also Russian, studying in New York for some kind of engineering degree. Nat commented that he spent more time with his head in interstellar clouds than with his feet inside a classroom.

When they got inside, Bucky could see that her observation was absolutely spot-on.

Natasha and Alexei were blessed with a top-floor apartment that Bucky had only seen the likes of in movies about New York. Open floor-plan, floor to ceiling windows that he suspected were the reason they lived there. Alexei, sturdy and blond in black sweatpants, was hunched over a low coffee table covered in star charts and blueprints.

She let Liho out of her bag and set the rest of her things in a chair by the door. The slinky, black beast ran up to Alexei and settled itself in his lap, where he scratched behind the velvety ears until he purred. Nat followed shortly after, her hands rubbing circles into the defined muscles of his shoulders.

‘Have you eaten?’

‘Not yet.’

‘Have you slept?’

‘Not yet, Natshechka. I will do it when I’m finished here.’

Alexei had a deep voice, with a Russian accent different and thicker that Nat’s own. He reminded Bucky a lot of Steve in his ability to get completely and literally lost in space.

Nat gave Bucky a fondly exasperated look before leaning down to speak quietly in his ear. They talked for a few moments before Alexei sighed, getting up and stretching cat-like. He leant down to peck her on the forehead, then disappeared with the cat behind one of the only doors Bucky could see.

“He doesn’t sleep.” Nat said in explanation as she crooked a finger at him. The gesture pulled him in like a tether and in a second he’d settled his hands on her hips. Nat wound her arms around his neck. “He’s on the verge of some kind of break-through, been up for three days. It’s all I can do to get food and water in him sometimes.”

“Sounds a lot like Steve, actually.” Bucky laughed and leaned his forehead against her hair.  
She smiled, rocking up on the tips of her toes to kiss his cheek. “No, Alexei’s not that stubborn. He doesn’t have quite the kick back that Rogers does.”

Bucky nodded, half believing that this was some kind of dream he’d wake up from. He couldn’t imagine any other way he’d be in Nat’s apartment, with her looking at him like he wasn’t the goody two-shoes history nerd that he actually was. She looked at him the way everyone looked at Steve now.

“So…” She said quietly, her thumb coming up to wipe a stray streak of glitter from his lip. “My room is just right there, and I thought we had plans for it.”

His mouth went dry, suddenly feeling too hot and too awkward to answer her back. Her face fell minutely and Nat pulled away. “Unless you want me to just take you back to your apartment.”

“No, no. I want this. Trust me.” His fingers flexed on her hip. A little, self-conscious chuckle escaped his mouth before Bucky pressed it to her jaw. “You have to be a little patient. I’m dumb when it comes to girls.”

Nat smiled a little indulgently, brushing his hair back with gentle fingers. He closed his eyes and leaned into the palm of her hand. “We don’t have to go too fast, we don’t even have to do anything.”

“I’d like that, actually.” He pressed a kiss to her pencil-calloused fingers. “Okay, which door is your bed hiding behind?”  
Nat grinned and led him to the door across from Alexei before pulling him inside.

Unlike the rest of their apartment, Nat’s room was darkened with curtains, there was hardly any space on the floor that wasn’t covered in crumpled balls of paper or discarded art supplies. He couldn’t help but laugh because it looked almost exactly like their living room after Hurricane Steve had a bad night.

But the bed was clean and spacious and looked comfortable and when she pushed him down to sit among the patterned pillows and blue bedspread, Bucky found that it was very comfortable.

In the low light, he watched the way she shed the layers and layers of clothing she was wearing until she was only in tank top and shorts. Bucky was amazed, but not surprised to see her skin covered in tattoos. Her clothes found their way to the floor, but the apron of make-up brushes and a weird long, thin sponge strapped to her arm were placed reverently on the vanity against the far wall. Her hair came down from being tied up in a bun and he watched in fascination as it was pulled back and braided, then pinned around her head like a crown.

“Mind if I borrow those sweats again?” Bucky asked, a little embarrassed but not really sure of the reason why.  
He hadn’t been with anyone since the accident, five years spent content to watch Steve and Sam go on dates with all sorts of people. It was strange because he’d dated a lot in high school, but after he lost his arm, Bucky had withdrawn. Out of fear of rejection or whatever, he was never really sure. The thought that he might not be as experienced or confident as he’d been before didn’t bother him until just that second, watching one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen get ready for bed. A bed she’d be sharing with him.

“There’s a clean pair on a hanger somewhere, if you don’t mind paint stains.” Nat said over her shoulder, and he got up to find them. They were dove grey and soft, sliding easily over his boxers. When he’d folded up his pants and put them somewhere he’d hopefully remember, Nat was sitting cross-legged against the headboard, obviously waiting for him to join her.

“You hold yourself like a soldier.” She said as Bucky sat next to her. On her left side. Always the left side.

He smiled a little. “And you have hospital corners.”

“Well, you got me there. I served back home for two years. Discharged after I was shot in the field. That’s where I met Alexei.” Nat shrugged, her hands gesturing gracefully in a way that Bucky only wished he could

“In this hospital?”

She nodded, fingers drumming on her knee. “He was in the VVS. Experimental pilot, burned in an accident on the runway. After we got out of the hospital, Dad got us out of Russia and to the United States. We’ve lived together ever since.”  
Bucky put his hand over hers, amazed to find that their fingers slotted together almost perfectly. “I was planning on joining the army, I’ve been in JROTC and ROTC all my life. My dad was in the army, my sisters all are nurses at VA’s like my ma. Then the stupid accident happened and I was in a bad place for a long time. One day I just decided that I was going to devote myself to military history instead. Be an expert for the Military Channel or whatever.”

“Well that was a completely and totally unintentional game of ‘I’ll show you mine, you show me yours.” Nat said with an embarrassed laugh, shifting under his gaze. “I’d really rather be kissing you.”

Bucky took that as the permission he’d been waiting for. He leaned over at the same time as she did, but their mouths didn’t meet immediately. Sitting like this, knee to knee, they were the same height.

He thought he’d be feeling something other than comfort. That’s how things like this worked. Mysterious girl like Natasha brings a straight-laced guy like him home, his life was supposed to change. She was a hurricane, tearing through every wall he’d put up in the same way that Sam and Steve had, and he was sitting in a hammock on the beach.

They danced around it, leaning in and pulling back in equal measure, waiting until the last possible second before Bucky couldn’t stand it any longer. Both hands came up to cup her cheeks, the left one delayed slightly.

“Sorry.” Bucky murmured automatically, Nat just shook her head and put her hands over his, closing the space between them. He wanted to think that he could feel the warmth from her skin on his, but he could definitely feel the comforting pressure.  
This felt like a real first kiss, so unlike the one they one had in the workshop. His hand slid down to the back of her neck, she did a complicated move to slide into his lap.

It was nice, knowing that Nat’s not expecting any more than kissing and a nap. And to help her finish her project, of course.  
She took control immediately, her fingers curling securely over his mismatched hands and her thumbs rubbing over the skin of both, though he could only feel one.

They kissed for a long time, gladly invading mouths and personal, bodies pressed against each other, until the long string of perfect moments was broken by Nat yawning.

It was like an old Hollywood starlet in a movie yawn, one hand curled up to hide her mouth and the other arm stretched out.  
“And that’s the state of the union.” Bucky grinned at her embarrassed smile before trailing kisses down the bridge of her nose until he touched her lips again. He helped her pull back the covers and snap off the lamp light, settling into soft sheets and sleep.


End file.
